You can scratch the Tony Awards for June 11th.
The Writers Guild rejected giving CBS and the American Theater Wing a waiver so the show could go on. The main writer of the Tony’s, Dave Boone, is a member of WGAE. Actors from SAG won’t cross a picket line. Actors Equity, the Broadway union, has been on picket lines all week.
I told you this from the outset of the strike. When I queried a rep for Ariana DeBose, this year’s host, last week, there was no response.
The Tony committee will meet on Monday and choose between delaying (perhaps to September) or putting on a private dinner of some kind.
Frankly they should do both. A dinner on June 11th where they announce the awards, and a proper TV show when the strike is over.
Many Tony nominated shows are struggling right now, and counting on the awards to get them through the summer. If they could at least have something to put in ads, that would help them tremendously.
A fall show with pre-announced winners performing, even some nominees and other Broadway stars, is never a bad thing. I hope the Committee will take that into consideration.
Meanwhile, some shows like “Leopoldstadt” are coming to the end of their runs anyway. It would help them punch up the last couple of weeks of box office just to be able to say “Tony winner Best Play 2023.”
